


It's too cliche, I won't say I'm in love.

by wrongendofthebed



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, I mean they both die, but they also keep coming back to life, the point is that they're living across many different lifetimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-11 21:34:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7071310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrongendofthebed/pseuds/wrongendofthebed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of soulmate stories.<br/>Unrelated unless otherwise stated.<br/>First chapter inspired by Tongari's poem "25 lives".<br/>Second chapter is about tattoos.<br/>Third chapter is about seeing in color.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I used to live alone (inspired by Tongari's "25 Lives")

The first time Nicole loved Waverly, they went by different names. 

Back then, Waverly was the youngest of the King’s Daughters. Her world was big, bright, and beautiful. 

Nicole worked in the barn, and knew everything about the princess’ riding habits. Her favorite horse, the saddle that fit her best, and how long she would ride depending on the day and her mood. During the summer, the Princess would ride so often that her hair would become sun-bleached.

Nicole is also sure that Waverly doesn’t know her as anything other than the girl who works in the barn.

*

The first time Waverly loved Nicole, she remembered. They were both children in a pre-industrial school yard, somewhere in England, when she remembered. Nicole’s parents had sent her to school to learn to read and write, and Waverly was too small to help with much on the farm. 

Waverly saw the older redhead, and remembered the barn hand who always knew what she wanted as far as her horses went before she even did. The other girl clearly didn’t remember her, but it didn’t matter to Waverly. She went over and introduced herself. They became fast friends.

Years later, Waverly’s daughter married Nicole’s son, and neither could have been happier.

(Unless those dreams that Waverly had at night had come true. The ones where they had their own farm, no husbands, and got to horseback ride together all the time. But they were just dreams.)

*

Nicole realized, after a couple of remembered lifetimes, that Waverly’s hair color changed, and that it didn’t matter. The red head always loved her, and Waverly could never seem to remember. Sometimes they courted, and the other girl stopped responding out of fear. Other times, they got as far as kissing. Those are Nicole’s favorite lifetimes, she could spend a thousand lifetimes chasing Waverly for one more kiss.

*

There were lifetimes where Waverly felt like there was something missing. She could remember a girl – or is it a woman? – she never met. A smile haunted her dreams, and she always feelt like she’s searching crowds for someone.

*

Another time, they were both factory kids. They worked the same shift of the same line in a fabric mill. Nicole made sure the machines ran, replaced needles, and tightened bolts. Waverly climbed the lines and ropes, untangling knots and straightening lines. They ate their mid-shift meal together, talking about their siblings, parents, and dreams. 

Nicole watched Waverly move through the rafters of the factory, and desperately wished that she remembered being the fisherman’s daughter, or the Princess, or the woman in the hat shop. 

Waverly showed Nicole how to sneak onto the roof so they could see the stars.

*

Maybe it was because she remembered having Wynonna as a sister, even in the lifetimes that the older girl didn’t make it past infancy, but Waverly had an extraordinary talent for having bad ideas. Most of the time, they were so much fun, and gave her a rush to make her cheeks red and dresses rip. 

Sometimes, they went too far, though. After their ship landed, Waverly’s father accused Nicole of bewitching his daughter so that she would do such unlady-like things. They had been the brunette’s idea, but the other woman had no family with her.

Waverly swore to remember that she needed to keep her red head safe, too, in future lifetimes.

(She just wanted her love to remember.)

*

They met again on a plantation in the deep south. Nicole was a guest of the family’s when she walked in to the barn to get a horse. She found Wynonna with one of the workers, a dark-skinned boy with scars on his back.

She went to mention something to the woman’s sister, and remembered being tied down, the water rising, when she looked into the blonde’s eyes. 

Nicole made an excuse to her fiancé and rode home in their carriage that night, wondering what it would take to feel like she could breathe again.

*

That was the only lifetime where they met and didn’t reconcile their differences. 

They had a lot of lost time to make up for, so when they did truly meet, face-to-face, they didn’t have the time to try to apologize for their past selves’ mistakes.

When they spent their lives as friends, the one who remembered always went out of her way for the one who just can’t seem to. In the lifetimes where they barely met, she still tried to do something to make the other's life better. 

Both of them dreamt of a lifetime where they were something more than friends.

*

Even though her heart jumped when she saw her, Nicole wondered if that was actually her. Her eyes were off, she was too tall, her smile was different. The girl she remembered could never be a Slytherin. She should have been a Ravenclaw. 

When their lips met, though, she knew.

*

It was the middle of the war, and they were staring each other dead in the eye. Nicole took aim, and Waverly decided (as she was bleeding out on the ground) that she would rather have this than not have the other woman at all.

*

When the young man first took her hand and asked her to dance, Waverly was surprised by the way her heart jumped and stomach dropped. She thought that was a response reserved for her beautiful red head. She certainly did not expect to feel that way about him.

As they got to know each other, she realized that he was her. 

Waverly wondered, as she watched the ship sink below the water, if this was the last time that she would see Nicole again. Even in another lifetime.

*

The circumstances, and lifetime as a whole, didn’t stand out. She might have been living somewhere in LA, New York City, Toronto, London, or Dublin. It was just another lifetime where she looked for the woman that she knew she was missing.

She found her in a hospital while she was on shift, dying from an accident. There was nothing she could do to save her.

Nicole wondered for the rest of that lifetime, and the first part of the next. Was that really her Waverly?

*

They met in a bar, when the beer tap broke and Nicole was looking for a cappuchino. Waverly had a boyfriend.

This time, Nicole decided to keep her distance. The truth was that she was tired. She’d been chasing the other girl for more lifetimes than she could count (sometimes she wondered if she remembered them all), and she wasn’t sure if she could find the energy to win the other girl over again.

It wound up that she didn’t need to chase Waverly. Circumstances had finally worked in their favor, between their lives and the politics of the world. Waverly came to her, even though she didn’t remember. 

*

The next time that happened, Waverly was the one who remembered. Her section of the Ark had just docked, and Nicole only spoke French.

Nicole thought that she taught Waverly the language, but she remembered. Not only the language, but the way that their life had gone the last time they had the opportunity to really live it.

*

They were not always the same person. Sometimes they looked different, sometimes they had different backgrounds, sometimes their gender was wrong. Their names were always different, and every time they said one, all of the others echoed in their head.

But they always knew each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was inspired by Tongari's poem "25 lives".  
> My tumblr is old-leather-jacket.  
> I need a beta, just to look things over before I post them. If you're interested, inbox me either here or on tumblr.  
> What should be next, soulmate tattoos or color soulmates? Leave your thoughts in the comments or on my tumblr.


	2. I want someone provocative and talkative (magically appearing tattoos)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slight AU where the characters magically get tattoos from significant life events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, guys, I got this together two days earlier than I expected. Mostly because I suddenly realized we've got field trips, so I don't actually have to plan haha.  
> If there are any issues, feel free to let me know. I think I caught the grammatical issues, but I may have missed a few.

Waverly remembered the day she first found out about the tattoos. She was sitting with Wynonna, both of them licking fudgesicles, while their dad was chopping wood to prepare for the winter. It was one of the few truly hot days that Purgatory experienced, so he had taken his shirt off. Wynonna asked about the flowers on his back, and Daddy told them about how he had gotten their mother the bunch of flowers for their first date. He knew she had decided she loved him when he got the tattoo. He then went on to point out the tattoos on his chest and arms, explaining how they showed the progression of his relationship with their mother. Waverly’s heart jumped, and she spent the rest of the day thinking about how romantic it was, and how she couldn’t wait to get her own tattoos.

Months later, when she told her Daddy that she was looking forward to her first tattoo, he shook his head and told her that she probably could. He looked at her sadly, and said that tattoos are usually earned the hard way. She wondered what he meant.

She also remembered the day she first understood that the tattoos weren’t necessarily desirable. The morning after Daddy and Willa disappeared, they both woke up with Peacemaker tattooed on their right thighs, and a star on their left wrists. 

They also both spent the whole day crying on the couch.

*

Wynonna left Purgatory when Waverly was 16, and she felt her heart break. Her sister was leaving without her, and probably wouldn’t ever come back.

Champ told her she should just get over it, but it hurt in a way she couldn’t describe. While they were at a bonfire that night, she felt the familiar burning, and an image of the Wynonna’s Greek Necklace was on the inside of her her right wrist. She looked at both of her wrists, realizing that he had lost both of the hands that her childhood self thought she would be able to hold forever, and burst into tears.

Later that night, she tried to quiet the nagging part of her brain that pointed out that she had been with Champ for years, and still had no tattoo for any part of their relationship.

*

When Wynonna came back, Waverly was so happy that she cried. (Even though she was hoping that she could be the heir. It should be her, after all. She’s the one who stayed.)

*

Meeting Officer Haught didn’t feel like a big deal at first. Sure, she was cute, and made Waverly’s heart jump in ways that she had only dreamed about, but it Waverly had a boyfriend. 

*

The moment that she began playing the piano, Waverly’s right hip started burning. It stopped when the piano popped open, revealing a skull.

The tattoo itself was a skull, too, but this one was colored to be pink on top, purple in the middle, and blue on the bottom.

*

One Tuesday, Nicole decided to sit at the bar. It was a slow night, so she was able to chat with the bartender. The bartender just happened to be short, brunette, and female. The chat quickly turned into a heart-to-heart, and Waverly went up to her apartment later that night with a wide smile on her face, sure that she had made a new friend. 

It became a thing, for the redhead to come in on Tuesday nights to keep Waverly company at work. They were almost always slow, with the exception of happy hour. 

One night, four or five weeks into this habit, Waverly stopped mid-sentence and started panicking. She felt the familiar burn on her ribcage, and thought something was wrong. She quickly yanked her shirt up without explanation, expecting to find something to symbolize Wynonna. (Surely something had happened to her sister; Waverly’s tattoos only came with bad events.)

Instead, Waverly found a martini glass there, just like the ones the redhead had been ordering every night. She looked up at Nicole, and told her very matter-of-factly that she must be some type of special.

Nicole didn’t tell her that she had just decided she only wanted to drink at this bar, while talking with this girl. She also didn’t tell Waverly about the words that had appeared on her own ribcage the day they met. They were in latin (which took her a long-ass time to figure out), and roughly translated to say “All good things come in time”.

*

Their first kiss didn’t come with a tattoo. Nicole was disappointed, and thought that maybe she misread the signs.

*

Tuesday night chats at the bar and “just hanging out” afterwards turned into dates. Wynonna casually threatened Nicole before the first one, but couldn’t deny that the Officer was an excellent match for her sister.

*

Waverly was so nervous when she realized that that night would probably be THE night. The night that their relationship took the next step. They had been kissing, and going on dates, and planning fun things. This felt different, though.

The younger Earp brought Nicole up to her place above Shorty’s, and they began making out on the couch. The redhead was straddling her, and it was all Waverly could do to sit up straight enough to kiss her lips. When the strain became too much on her neck, she began unbuttoning the uniform shirt.

She slipped the shirt off of the taller girl’s shoulders, and busied herself with kissing her collarbone and the tops of her breasts. Her hands rested on Nicole’s ribs, thumbs skimmed the bottoms of her breasts. When Waverly’s hand touched the words, they felt pleasantly warm to Nicole.

They made their way to the bedroom as they continued losing clothes, and before she knew what was happening, Waverly was underneath Nicole, wearing nothing but her tattoos. Nicole kissed her like Waverly held all the oxygen in the room. 

Nicole’s right hand ghosted around Waverly’s body, while her left held her up. After she spent the appropriate amount of time teasing the younger girl’s breasts and stomach, she finally brought her hand to the brunette’s thigh. The redhead forced herself to pull her mouth away a little to make eye contact. To ask for permission. Waverly nodded, and said please. In French. Nicole thought that might have been the hottest thing to ever happen.

The hand gently moved up the inside of Waverly’s thigh, then cupped Waverly’s sex. Nicole’s first and middle fingers found their way through the thick and curly hair there to her clit, and Waverly swore the world was going to explode right then. 

They quietly murmured to each other as Nicole moved her hand, Waverly giving the other girl a little direction, and quickly the directions turned into gasps and comments of “Oh, right there”. Just when Waverly was getting close, Nicole slowed down to ground her a bit, and the brunette whimpered, staring up at her lover with wide, begging eyes. 

Quickly, Nicole took her hand away from the other girl (earning another whimper) to bend Waverly’s right leg and straddle it, to give herself some friction where she needed it. When her hand returned to where it started, Waverly brought one of hers from the redhead’s back to her own thigh. She gently, experimentally, slipped two fingers into the fine hair into wet heat. 

Their noises became an exchange again, with Nicole keeping Waverly going, but directing the brunette on what she liked. 

Soon, the two women were moving together in gasps and moans. Nicole was three fingers deep with her thumb on the other girl’s clit, and was grinding herself against Waverly’s thigh and fingers. She was close, so close, but wanted to hold off. For Waverly. 

Finally, Waverly began clenching around Nicole’s fingers, and she let herself go, too. She almost missed it in her bliss, but she felt the familiar burn on the inside of her arm. 

*

Nicole woke up the next morning to find the phrase “s’il vous plait” where the burning had been. She looked Waverly over, with her sleeping smile and relaxed muscles, and noticed dove on her hip. Right where Nicole’s left hand had been the night before, to anchor her. Where she had circled her thumb to bring the other girl back to Earth. As she drifted back to sleep, Nicole wondered if it was supposed to symbolize hope or freedom.

Maybe both.

*

Years later, Waverly sat on the farmhouse porch eating a fudgesicle. This time, instead of Wynonna sitting next to her, it’s their daughter. She had chocolate around her mouth and dripping down her fingers, her Mama’s red hair, and the Earp expressive eyebrows. 

They watched Mama chop wood, wearing a tank top and jeans. From here, they could see the sleeve of things that Waverly has said to her in different languages on her right arm, and a hint of a horses’ tail on her left shoulder. The girl asked about what was on Mama’s skin.

Waverly tells her it’s love that marked up Nicole’s skin, and if she’s very lucky, their daughter will have just as many marks.


	3. We've always got the fight in us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever I read a true soulmates fic, it feels a little gross to me. I don't like the idea that two people are meant to be together and have no choice in the matter. I tried to approach that in this fic, because yes love has to do with people seeing colors or not, but is it really because they met a specific person? Should it be?

When she was little, Waverly’s father would tell the girls a story on the couch before they all went up to their respective rooms and to bed. Sometimes it was the story of Great-Grandpa Wyatt, and how he came to discover Peacemaker’s powers. Other times, there were stories about princes and princesses. Occasionally, on request, it was the story of how a person came to see color. The girls were always amazed by this story, and sometime in the next few days their father would find Willa and Wynonna wondering what it would be to see in color, rather than in shades of gray. What did the sky look like? Were their eyes the same color? What colors were their favorite foods?

On the rare occasion that Waverly was nearby when these questions started coming up, she would quietly wander away. Their father had told them that colors were only seen by the people who felt love in its purest form. The people who saw in color were the people who loved selflessly, without shame, without need of anything in return. She didn’t realize it until she began pre-school, but Waverly knew that she saw in color. She knew that Willa’s eyes were a little bit more hazel than Wynonna’s, whose eyes were a deep, chocolate brown. She knew that Wynonna tended to like red foods like tomatoes and strawberries, while Willa preferred the browns of potatoes and yellows of cheeses. 

Somehow, Waverly knew that she needed to keep this information to herself. Even though she wanted to share it and tell her sisters all the answers that she knew, she also knew that this could get her in trouble. Many people believed that seeing in color meant that you had met your soul mate.

Waverly refused to believe that she had already met the person that she was destined to spend her life with. If she had, that meant that she was meant to love Champ Hardy. He was the only person in her class who had been born on the same day as her. Their families had always lived in town, and Champ’s mother would loudly and seriously tell the story to anyone who would listen of the day that she gave birth to ‘her little man’ in a maternity ward built for one, but for one day needed to hold two.

*

It happened in middle school. A new girl moved to town, and Bobby-Joe could suddenly see in color. He was showing off his new skill during lunch, talking about how there really were six different colors on the wall, not just varying shades of gray, when Champ realized he had the same skill, and had all of his life.

Unfortunately for Waverly, he also knew that they shared a birthday. 

Without any prompting, that boy puffed his chest out with bravado, squared his shoulders, and made his way across the small cafeteria to Waverly. He placed his hand on her shoulder like he owned her. It made her squirm with discomfort. She looked up into his eyes, staring giddily into her own, and knew that she couldn’t hide it any longer. 

When he asked if she could see in color, she said yes. She told the truth, because it’s what she was raised to do. He took her hand in one of his, took her lunch in the other, and paraded her back to his table to sit on his lap. He told the whole cafeteria that she was his soul mate, that they were destined to be together forever with the purest sort of love. 

She wanted to hit him away from her, to scream that she wasn’t his, to beg the universe for anyone else. At that moment, the people around her were assuming that she was more stupid than they thought. She was supposed to be one of the smartest children in school, and they thought that she had failed to make the connection. She was almost more embarrassed at that thought than she felt to be sitting on Champ Hardy’s lap. 

Waverly still refused to believe that he was it for her. She would play along like she was expected to, but she refused to believe it.

*

Waverly spent a long time playing along with it. 

Her sisters spent the whole night giving her a hard time about the fact that she didn’t tell them that she could see in color, and grilling her about the colors of her favorite things.

Champ cheated off of her spelling test the next week, and she didn’t tell the teacher because that’s what good soul mates do. 

When Willa and Daddy were killed, she had to beg Champ to come to the funerals. He grabbed her ass while they were lowering the coffins into the ground.

She let Champ get to second base with her at their eighth grade formal, because Champ argued for it. “We’re going to go all the way sooner rather than later, Waves, so why not let me get a little taste now?” (She hated the nickname. Wynonna was the only person who could call her that, and she had left a couple months prior. But Champ wouldn’t listen when she asked him to call her by her full name.)

When Champ made the football team, she grudgingly tried out for cheerleading. She tried not to spend her Friday nights on the field thinking about the books she could be pouring over in the library.

Instead of going off to college like she had always dreamed of, she took online language courses because Champ had already secured a job in town as a cattle hand. It would turn into a job as either a manager or the ranch owner someday, so why would she need any degree? They would get by just fine on his wages. Waverly had only talked him into letting her take the classes because it was something she liked doing so much. He was pretty grudging about it, but accepted that it was something that she wanted to do. 

*

Waverly had a hard time making friends in town once she finished High School. Sure, she had people to hang out with, but she didn’t have anyone she truly considered a friend. There weren’t really any people on her intellectual level. So she was friends with a couple of girls that she had grown up with who were still in town. 

Truth be told, they were pretty meaningless friendships.

*

She had heard rumors of the new officer in town. She had heard that they were hot. Literally, that’s all anyone ever talked about, to the point where they didn’t even use the poor person’s name. It was just officer hot.

When the officer walked into Shorty’s, Waverly understood why. She was a tall red head, whose khaki pants were snug in all the right places, and whose uniform top button was undone. The Stetson on top of her head framed her face perfectly, and… Hellooooooo, Officer Hot.

No matter what, Waverly definitely did not flirt with her. Or spill beer all over herself in Officer Hot’s presence. Or need help taking her tank top off. And Nicole absolutely, under any circumstances, did not flirt back.

It made sense when Waverly picked up Nicole’s business card and it said “Officer Haught”. 

(She still put Nicole’s number in her cell phone as “Officer Hot”, though.)

*

“I get it, you’re a lesbian, not a unicorn, right?”

Waverly felt so stupid. 

*

The townspeople damn near exploded when Waverly broke up with Champ. 

Breaking up with your true love was unheard of anywhere, but especially in a small town. Everyone who set foot in Shorty’s for the next few weeks would be nice enough to Waverly’s face, but send her sidelong glances when they thought she wasn’t looking. 

When people asked (which a few people were rude enough to do), Waverly explained it two ways. 

First, she wasn’t sure that meeting another certain person was the thing that made a person see in color. She believed that it had more to do with the person who was seeing in color, and how they viewed the world and those around them. 

Second, if anyone had made her feel that sort of love, she was positive that it wasn’t Champ Hardy.

*

The two women went out on a lot of dates without either of them calling them dates. 

They grabbed sandwiches and ate them on the tailgate of Nicole’s truck. 

The Officer picked the waitress up from work and took her to the movies, and ordered popcorn with extra butter because she knew how much Waverly loved it. 

Waverly invited Nicole over for movie nights without calling it ‘Netflix and Chill’, although they certainly did watch Netflix and spend a lot of the time with their faces pressed together and their hands in each other’s shirts.

Nicole was invited to so many ‘family nights’ with the Earp sisters that she was considered by many to be the unofficial fourth Earp sister.

*

Nicole and Waverly also did a lot of little things to take care of each other.

Nicole started keeping a small pillow in her desk for the (many) nights that Waverly fell asleep researching at the station. When she noticed the brunette dozing on her books, she could quietly take it out, walk over, and gently lift Waverly’s head to place it under her.

Waverly brought by snacks and hot drinks when the light was still on in the station and she was closing the bar.

*

Waverly never really came out. There was just a day where Nicole and Wynonna were drinking together at a corner table while the younger Earp was at work, having their usual ‘who’s done crazier’ competition. The red head didn’t think anything of her behavior, she didn’t even realize she had been watching Waverly work. 

Wynonna stopped mid-story, and looked between her sister across the room and the woman sitting across from herself. Once Nicole noticed the unusual pause in the story, they made eye contact. 

The older Earp’s brow furrowed. “If you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.” It wasn’t a threat, just a statement.

“If I hurt her, I’ll kneel in front of the gun.” Nicole promised, nodding.

*

Nobody ever questioned what was happening between Waverly and Nicole. 

Sure, a couple people commented on the fact that they seemed to get along well, and that they made a good couple, but that was it. No problems, no hassle.

*

It took them a while to get there, but almost a year after Waverly broke things off with Champ, she gently pushed the red head’s hand toward the button of her jeans while they were heatedly kissing on the couch. 

Nicole asked if she was sure. Waverly said that she had never been more sure of anything.

Their first time together wasn’t anything spectacular. It was fumbling, jumbled, and a little awkward. Neither of them found any release from it.

It was the first time that Waverly had had fun having sex, though. She had enjoyed the feeling of Nicole taking off her Shorty’s tee-shirt, running her calloused hands all over her back, ribcage, and breasts. When they had both gotten a little overenthusiastic and hit their teeth together, they laughed. Waverly learned that the red head liked gentle and soft, and Nicole learned how to read the brunette’s body to time things correctly.

(Nicole had to double check with Waverly that both of their carpets matched the drapes. Waverly smiled softly at the other girl and assured her that yes, they did, for both of them.)

They both knew they had a lot to learn about each other, and it would take them time to get it right. But it was the right experience to want to take the time. 

*

The day that Nicole began to see in color was a normal day. The sun had just gone down, and the people of Purgatory were celebrating one of the few warm nights of the year. Everyone was out back of Shorty’s with drinks and music. 

Waverly had asked Nicole if they could dance together, and they two-stepped around the floor, hand in hand. The officer knew that she would do anything if it meant keeping her girl happy, and the world changed. 

She stumbled and they fell. The brunette landed on top of her, and quickly began to look for signs of injury, asking if she had been shot. Once Waverly looked at Nicole’s face, like she might just about cry with joy, she knew.

For the first time, they were both viewing the world the same way. 

*

It was an almost funny turn of events. Years after Waverly broke up with him, Champ realized that he couldn’t actually see in color. He had a talent at differentiating between shades of grey, but had no idea what color was. He was also stupid enough to tell someone, and it got around town pretty quick.

Waverly spent that night crying in Nicole’s arms about the shame she endured, the years she wasted, because she didn’t want to be the girl who walked away from her “soul mate”. 

Nicole knew that Champ wouldn’t know love if it bit him in the balls. and that he didn’t deserve the wonderfulness that was Waverly.

*

Nicole wasn’t good at keeping secrets. Waverly had caught onto every Christmas and birthday present that Nicole had ever planned out for her. There was also a legendary time when Waverly ate Nicole out until the red head spilled all of the details about the surprise party for their two year anniversary. 

Nicole wasn’t good at keeping secrets, which is why Waverly was completely blindsided when Nicole proposed to her at the Poker Spectacular. 

The two of them had been at the bar for most of the afternoon and all of the evening, sipping drinks and keeping an eye on things. Waverly was still mentoring the new waitress, and Nicole was watching for any potential brawls. Willa and Wynonna had just come over to say hi and order drinks, Dolls was in the corner, and it struck Waverly that this was a perfect moment. All of the people that she loved, all in one place. 

Waverly looked to Nicole when she felt a warm hand slide off of her thigh, and dropped her drink when she saw her girlfriend on one knee. Willa caught the drink before it hit the floor, and Wynonna gently took the youngest Earp’s shoulders to put her on her feet. Once Waverly was on her feet, Nicole took a small ring out of her pocket. She offered the ring to Waverly in cupped hands, and began to talk in that slow, confident tone. 

“Waverly Earp. I know I wasn’t there on the day you saw color. I was probably running around the woods of New Hampshire with Hayley and my cousins, without any idea that someone like you existed. I also know that we’re pretty opposite. I’m the girl who never did her homework and didn’t hand it in when I did do it. I somehow doubt that you ever missed a homework assignment in your school career. You’re the purest, most wonderful person I know, and already lead such a full life. But I’d like to give you what I can. I want to give you the stable, semi-nuclear family that I know you’ve always wanted. I want to go everywhere with you so that you can practice talking the languages you read and write. You make me want to be so many things and give you so many things. You’ve spent your whole life loving with the purest love there is, and the reason that I learned what it means to have that love.“

Nicole blinked back a few tears, and smiled at Waverly. The brunette had finally taken her hands away from her mouth, and was clutching them over her heart.

*Waverly Earp, with my Grandma’s ring in my hand and the purest love there is in my heart, will you be my wife?”

*

On the morning of her 50th birthday, Waverly woke up to an empty bed. She padded around the house in bare feet and her robe, looking for her wife. 

For the third time in her life, Waverly was surprised by Nicole. The book was filled with memories of their life together, from Nicole’s account of their first meeting and first kiss, to their wedding pictures, to the date that they finally broke in the desk in the sheriff’s (now Nicole’s) office. There were also stubs from their move, pictures from their cross-country drive. Nicole had made copies of their kids’ first footprints, and put in pictures from the day that they decided to adopt a broody teenager named Samuel, who preferred Samantha. Their whole life was in that book, every wonderful moment of it.

*

Sure, they had moved towns, and now lived in a place where summer was a longer season and the population was a bit larger. But their lives remained very similar to the way they were in Purgatory. They had moved once the Earp sisters defeated the revenants. Nicole and Waverly bought a large piece of land to raise horses on in a town that was hiring a sheriff. 

Nicole was a little nervous about how the townspeople would react to having a lesbian sheriff, but Waverly won them over quickly as the sheriff's wife. She spearheaded events to help renovate and restock the library, spent time mentoring students, and still found the time for a drink with the townspeople at their local bar every night. Nicole wasn’t entirely sure if the town truly respected her, or just pretended to because they loved Waverly so much.

After a lifetime of her love being misunderstood and taken for granted, Waverly finally knew that she was loved by the people around her with the type of love she had always loved others with.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by Tongari's poem "25 lives".  
> My tumblr is old-leather-jacket.  
> I need a beta, just to look things over before I post them. If you're interested, inbox me either here or on tumblr.  
> What should be next, soulmate tattoos or color soulmates? Leave your thoughts in the comments or on my tumblr.


End file.
